Columns in Word Processing

Newspapers use columns extensively.

Word-processing software is employed for both formal and informal document creation. In each context, certain formatting choices can lend readability and organizational clarity to your document. You can use columns to include numerous separate blocks of text on one visible page. This is extremely useful in a number of contexts, such as a newspaper-style layout, integrating images into a document and poetry. Most major word-processing programs have many column-formatting options.

Column Use

Columns can create organizational clarity and readability on a page. For example, multiple columns on a page can give a document the appearance of a newspaper article or a similarly formatted pamphlet. Employ columns to display text alongside images. Documents that contain multiple poems also benefit from the use of columns, as you can display multiple poems per page. Furthermore, you can use columns to show a text and its translation side by side.

Column Number

Most word-processing programs allow for a variety of column numbers, the most standard of which are two and three per page. Depending on the demands of the document, this number will vary. For example, a translation will usually have only two columns: one for the original language, and the other for the language into which the original is being translated. Two columns are also used for texts with many annotations. A newspaper article, conversely, will sometimes require more than two columns, depending on the length of the article and its desired page space.

Column Width

Many word-processing programs render the columns with equal widths by default but allow the user to change these parameters. The variable width of columns allows for a wide variety of corresponding column functions. In the case of annotated texts, for example, the main text is usually in a large column, with the annotations in a smaller column -- and often a smaller font -- to the side.

Margins

The margins of a document are columns as well, although they are not typically thought of as such. Formatting the margins of the document allows for the appearance of one column on the page. Margins are also extremely useful to modify when designing the layout of a page with more than one column. The margins will constrict the entire document, which in turn will affect the appearance of the corresponding columns.